


You're Not as Bad as I Thought

by three_mugs_of_tea



Series: Love is Slow [4]
Category: 15& (Band), After School Club (show), K-pop
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Just as a follow up to the bet mentioned in Pay Attention to Me, Male-Female Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-22
Updated: 2015-07-22
Packaged: 2018-04-10 15:11:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4396751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/three_mugs_of_tea/pseuds/three_mugs_of_tea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jimin’s not particularly clumsy, but she’s exhausted from pulling an all-nighter to finish her last paper, and it’s not her fault that the other guy doesn’t watch where he’s going. <br/>It's a little strange that she becomes friends with him. <br/>But secretly, she’s glad that she tripped over Eric.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You're Not as Bad as I Thought

**Author's Note:**

> This is technically the final installment of Love is Slow. Because friendship is also love.

Jimin’s not particularly clumsy, but she’s exhausted from pulling an all-nighter to finish her last paper, and it’s not her fault that the other guy doesn’t watch where he’s going.

“Whoa,” he says, catching her, before a terrible collision happens. “You ok? Watch where you’re going.”

Jimin frowns and resists the urge to stick her tongue out at him. “Yeah, maybe you should watch where you’re going.”

To her surprise, the man actually starts bickering with her.

“Hey, I’m the older one here!”

“Doesn’t mean that you weren’t also on your phone.”

They bicker for another good five minutes before the man realizes that he’s late for his class and quickly bids Jimin farewell before running away.

 

Jimin doesn’t purposely try to run into the annoying man again, but he just happens to also like her favorite studying spot.

“Hey, that’s my spot,” she says with a frown.

“This is a public library,” he replies. “There’s still plenty of space on the table.”

Jimin huffs in annoyance, but she puts her stuff down anyways.

“Hey…Music Theory 101. I’m TA-ing that course.”

“Yeah? When?”

The man grins. “Tuesday discussion at three. The time you almost tripped on me and I was late to class.”

“For the record, you were in the way.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever makes your day. I’m Eric, by the way.”

“Jimin.”

Jimin ends up studying at the same spot with Eric for the rest of the week. He refuses to move, and so does she. So they share the table and sometimes they chat a little. Jimin learns that Eric has two brothers, and Eric learns that Jimin is obsessed with Moomin.

He’s pretty old, but for a fossil, he’s a cool guy.      

 

“Bam-Bam got a date?” Jimin asks incredulously.

Yerin nods. “Yeah. I guess he and Yugeom got double dates for Valentine’s Day.”

The two girls are hanging out at their favorite café. Jimin’s having some tea, and Yerin’s munching thoughtfully on a pastry.

“Aw man, he was my last hope for a non-lonely Valentine’s Day.”

Yerin pats her shoulder sympathetically. “Sorry.”

“Nah, it’s ok. I’ll just watch some Moomin and get some chicken take-out.”

Even when they leave, Yerin can tell that Jimin is disappointed. She’s still disappointed when she gets to her study spot.

Eric’s already there, grading papers and mumbling things under his breath. His glasses kind of make him look like a nerdy uncle, and Jimin snorts at that thought. Eric looks up.

“Oh good, you’re here. I don’t have to grade papers anymore. Ugh. People don’t even study at all. Some kid put ‘Bach off’ as an answer to everything.”

“Pretty clever though,” Jimin replies.

Jimin’s pretty quiet today, and soon, Eric’s asking her about what’s wrong.

“Alright, Jimin, you’re usually much sassier than this. What’s up?”

Jimin considers not telling Eric. But he’s kind of like her older brother, reminding her to eat when it’s time to eat, and helping her with any homework that she’s confused with. She hasn’t known him for too long, but he’s a nice guy. She figures that it won’t hurt to tell him.

“All my friends have dates and stuff for Valentine’s Day, and I’m just a little annoyed, I guess.”

“That’s easy to fix. Come hang out with me. A bunch of my single friends and I are going to hang out that day anyways. Another person would be great. Kevin throws the best parties. Last time…Oh man.”

Jimin frowns. “But…That’ll be so awkward. You’re so old and I probably won’t know anymore.”

Eric ignores her. “That’s the point. Meet new people, make new friends. Who said Valentine’s Day was just for couples? And for your information, tiny child, I am twenty-eight, which isn’t that old.”

“Ancient,” Jimin mumbles under her breath.

Eric is still undeterred. “If I win at rock-paper-scissors, you have to spend Valentine’s Day with us single people so you can’t make fun of me anymore.”

Jimin rolls her eyes. “What are you, five?”

She ends up losing.

“I’ll pick you up. It’ll be tons of fun, I promise.”

“Whatever, old man. A deal is a deal. I’ll go.”

           

On the fourteenth of February, Eric arrives at the lobby at Jimin’s dorm right on time. He told Jimin to just dress casually, as it was probably just going to be a bunch of people eating junk food, singing karaoke, and just hanging out. When she gets to the lobby, she sees that he wasn’t joking.

“You look like a hobo,” she jokes, poking his arm.

Eric rubs his arm. “Holy crap, you’re strong! And excuse me, I said casual.”

Jimin rolls her eyes. “Whatever. Let’s go.”

It’s a short walk to the off-campus apartment. Along the way, Jimin makes sure to keep bugging Eric about getting a girlfriend.

“It’s not that I don’t want a girlfriend,” Eric mumbles. “I just haven’t found the right person.”

“The clock is ticking and ticking,” Jimin teases.

Eric rolls his eyes. “Hey, I’m been on this earth longer, I know what I’m doing.”

They get to the apartment, which is pretty close to Seokjin and Yoongi’s old apartment. Not that Jimin knows the recent graduates well. They are friends of Namjoon’s and Jimin barely knows Namjoon. She’d only been there once, and it was to drop something off to Yerin.

The guy who opens the door is taller than Eric, and he has a kind smile.

“Oh, you must be Jimin! It’s nice to meet you, I’m Kevin,” he greets, shaking her hand.

Inside, there are a lot of people, and Jimin can tell right away that she’s the youngest one. A karaoke battle has already started, and the two girls who are singing are both really good singers.

“Yo! Eric is here!” one of the girls yells when they step through the door.

“What’s up, Amy!”

The two hug and start to bicker, and Jimin feels awkward.

“It’s ok, they’re always like that,” the other girl who was singing says, tugging Jimin to where the food is. “By the way, I’m Amber.”

“Jimin.”

Amber is really nice, and she gives Jimin a plate of food before whisking her around the room to introduce to everyone. She catches some names, but there are so many people and she’s a little lost. They all just laugh and say that it’s nice to have a freshman with them. Everyone is so friendly, and within half an hour, Jimin doesn’t feel awkward anymore.

“By the way, what are you studying?” Amber asks.

The karaoke battles have long ended, and everyone in the apartment is huddled in a large circle, chatting.

“Undeclared,” Jimin answers shyly. “I’m not really sure what I want to do yet.”

“That’s ok,” Kevin replies sympathetically. “AJ’s doing general studies, and Eric changed his major three times.”

“You did?” she asks, shocked.

Eric shrugs. “I didn’t know what I was doing either. You want advice from a fossil?”

Everyone laughs, and Jimin rolls her eyes. “Yeah, old man. Give me advice.”

“It’s ok to not know what you’re doing, because eventually you’ll figure it out.”

Jimin blinks. “Thanks.”

“Not a problem.”

           

By the end of evening, Jimin has maybe ten new contacts in her phone and a lot of promises to hang out and talk from the people at the party. Kevin offers to help her with science, and Amber offers to help her with music.

“You had fun,” Eric says smugly as he walk her back to her dorm.

“Maybe,” she replies. Her phone buzzes.

“Is it James?” Eric asks.

Jimin checks her phone.

_Hope you had fun today! It was nice meeting you,_ the text reads. It is, in fact, from James.

“Yeah. How did you know?”

Eric shows her his phone. A similar message is on it.

“He does that to everyone,” Eric explains. “I’ve known him for years and it’s a habit that he just can’t break.”

“Why does he do it?”

“I think politeness is engraved into his bones or something. Same with Kevin. But you get to know Kevin a little more, and he’s not as nice and innocent as he seems.”

“What do you mean?”

Eric grins. “Little kids shouldn’t know about that kind of stuff.”

“I’m a legal adult!”

“You’ll figure it out eventually.”

Eric drops her off at the lobby of her dorm and waves her good-bye. Jimin waves back.

She doesn’t tell Eric outright, but she is thankful for his invitation.

 

A few days later, she’s hanging out with her ex-boyfriend, and they’re chatting about their weekends.

“Holy crap, I can’t believe Jungkook made he watch that,” he says, shuddering as he recounts the horror movie he had watched with the other boy. “Because Valentine’s Day is totally for ax murders.”

Jimin laughs.

“By the way, why couldn’t you come? It would have been more fun with another person.”

“I lost a bet to a grad student and had to go to a party with him.”

Her ex, the other Jimin, stares at her.

“Holy crap, you went to a party with a grad student? Are you ok? Did anything happen?”

Jimin rolls her eyes. “He’s just a friend, cool it. He’s too old for me. We just went to a party for lonely single people and sang karaoke and hung out and stuff. The people there were cool.”

“Yo, Jimin!”

Both the Jimins turn.

“Speak of the devil,” Jimin mumbles, as none other than Eric Nam approaches them.

“Eric?”

“Jimin?”

Her ex and her new friend are suddenly high-fiving and chattering happily, and Jimin’s lost. They finally both turn to her.

“Oh, he was my TA last year,” other Jimin explains. “Is this the grad student you were talking about?”

“Yup,” Jimin replies. “This old fossil.”

“Wait, you two know each other? What is this, Park Jiminception?”

“Happened already,” they replied.

“We dated for a month or so,” Jimin explains. She grins when Eric’s mind is obviously blown.

“That is really awesome.”

The three of them end up chatting for a while.

 

Jimin finds herself hanging out with Eric and his group of friends more and more. Her own group of friends is too busy with relationships, and she doesn’t like to feel like a third wheel all the time.

“If your significant other was allergic to pork cutlets, but pork cutlets were the only food you could eat to keep yourself from succumbing to your balding disease, what would you do? Spend time with your significant other and lose your hair, or eat the pork cutlets and leave your significant other?”

Everyone stares at James.

“That is such a you question,” Amber snorts. “Go bald. Hair isn’t really that important anyways.”

“I don’t know,” Moon replies thoughtfully. “I mean, I really, really love pork cutlets.”

“Moon, make up your mind,” Kevin urges. “Pork or girlfriend?”

“Pork!” replies Moon in a panic. Everyone laughs.

“I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?” he asks with a smile.

“Well, you know you’re never going to get a date from anyone in this group,” Amy replies.

“Ah, dang it. I was thinking of asking you on a date next week,” he answers with a fake sob.

Amy rolls her eyes. “Nah, I would have rejected you anyways, Moonsanova.”

Everyone snickers at the nickname.

Moon looks towards Jimin for support.

“Don’t look at me, I’m almost ten years younger than you.”

Moon hides his face in awkward embarrassment as Eric yells at him for being a pervert.

“Overprotective older brother mode,” Amber whispers as she nudges Jimin with a wide grin. “Don’t think Eric’s ever going to stop it either. Every time I so much as mention someone hitting on me, he goes ballistic.”

“He’s psychotic,” Amy adds with a grin. “But in a good way.”

“I heard that! I’m not psychotic!”

Amy points at him with a wide smirk. “See? See?”

It’s a little weird to Jimin that she fits so well into this group of older students. The only one who is her age is Jun, Kevin’s cousin, but he’s fairly quiet and she doesn’t see him very often.

Eric is still arguing with Amy about his existent or non-existent psychotic tendencies, and Amber can only roll her eyes at how immature the two are being. James, Sooyoon, and Moon are talking quietly about their next gig, and Kevin, Peniel, and Min are discussing something else.

Jimin’s glad to just sit and taking the scene in. It’s nice to be part of a group where everyone’s just chill with hanging out, and no one minds that she’s just a freshman.

Eric catches her smiling, and gives her a look, as if to say, “Didn’t I tell you?”

Jimin just rolls her eyes.

But secretly, she’s glad that she tripped over Eric.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! In case it wasn't clear, Eric's friends are people mentioned to be in the chatroom from one of the episodes of After School Club. People mentioned include:  
> Amber (f(x))  
> Ailee (Amy)  
> James (Royal Pirates)  
> Moon (Royal Pirates)  
> Sooyoon (Royal Pirates)  
> Min (Miss A)  
> Peniel (BTOB)  
> Kevin (U-KISS)  
> AJ (U-KISS)  
> Jun (U-KISS)
> 
> I just really wanted to write a friendship fic for Jimin and Eric because I really like their sibling dynamic.


End file.
